Prof. Reima Al-Jarf
King Saud University,
Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia


A Call for New Benchmarks at Saudi Language Schools
The total number of freshman students admitted to higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia was 20,631 in 1982 and reached 70,000 in the year 2000. Since the year 2000, Saudi universities have adopted an open admission policy that depends on high school GPA only. All admission tests were cancelled. Many high school graduates, especially females, show a great interest in joining languages schools. Interviews with instructors, coordinators and department head showed that the general English proficiency level of students graduating from high school is deteriorating. The current admission standards that depend on the high school GPA only are inadequate & do not reflect the students’ actual level in English. Most freshman enrollees are not qualified enough to make it through the COLT program. Freshman class instructors complain of their students’ poor English aptitude and their inability to make it through the listening, speaking, reading, writing and vocabulary building and grammar courses that students are required to take in their freshman year as a prerequisite to their training in translation.

Despite the fact that the lowest GPA for high school graduates admitted to COLT in Fall 2007 was 98.3%, results of final exams were exceptionally shocking with only 21.8% passing the reading course. The attrition rate in Fall 2003 was 20%, it went up to 30% in Spring 2004. Many re-register in the following semester. These result in waste of resources such as time, money, and lab and classroom facilities. Even students, who are pushed from one level to the next, get stuck when they reach semester 5. Some struggling students take the course over between 3-5 times. The percentage of freshman students who successfully complete the program is between 20%-25% of freshman enrollees. Since King Saud University is seeking to meet accreditation standards and global recognition, there is a need for adopting new admission benchmarks by Saudi language schools.

This study aims to recommend actions for improving the current admission status based on the results of interviews with students, instructors, coordinators and administrators and a survey of admission benchmarks at some language schools abroad. It is recommended that all high school graduates wishing to join COLT take an English admission test. Screening students before admission to COLT will save the university money, students and teachers’ time and effort. A follow-through plan and a sample admission test & range of skills tested will be provided.

Presenter
Reima Al-Jarf is a Professor at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where she has taught courses in EFL, ESP, linguistics, and translation and interpreting to graduate and undergraduate students. In the past 20 years, she taught online courses in grammar, writing, reading, vocabulary, translation, culture and English for art education. She has 4 books and 90 articles published in refereed international and national journals. She has given 120 presentations and attended more than 170 conferences in 29 countries . She is a member of 22 professional organizations and served on international and national committees.